The present invention relates to a method of producing an improved asphalt-aggregate mixture, and the product produced by practicing the method.
Paving materials which are most commonly used in broad applications, (such as highways, parking lots and airports) are concrete on asphalt-aggregate mixtures. While the former may be more durable, it is considerably more costly and requires more sophisticated equipment and construction techniques to apply. In many instances, asphalt may be chosen rather than concrete to pave a large area even though its anticipated useful life may be somewhat shorter. While asphalt is cheaper and easire to apply the structural integrity of an asphalt surface may be degraded in various ways, depending upon the environmental conditions existing in the particular area. In those areas subject to extremely hot summertime temperatures, asphalt may have a tendency to become quite soft and therefore readily deformed by vehicles moving over its surface (thereby leading to the phenomenon of "wash boarding"). In those areas subject to below freezing weather for a considerable period of time, the spring thaw may produce severe frost-heaving which may result in frequent severe potholes.
In both cases referred to above, the degradation of the asphalt surface is due to the separation of the petroleum based asphalt mixture from the aggregates mixed therewith (such as sand or pebbles). If this bond between the aggregate and the asphalt mixture could be increased sufficiently at a reasonable increase in cost which would not negate the economic advantages of using asphalt as opposed to concrete, a superior paving material would be produced at a considerable savings over concrete.
By the same token, methods of storing toxic pollutants have traditionally proved inadequate due to the relatively short life-span of the materials used to encase the toxic pollutants. For example, pollutants stored in metal or concrete containers may have an effective life-span of only a few hundred years, whereas the toxicity of heavy metals or radioactive effluent may not decrease appreciably over a period of several thousand years. Therefore, when the container in which the pollutants have been stored begins the degradation process, there is a very distinct possibility the effluent contained therein will be released to the surrounding environment. Widespread contamination of water, air and/or soil may result therefrom. Therefore, a material which can effectively seal the pollutants in impermeable and unbreakable bonds will negate the possibility of contamination resulting from the break-down of containers holding the pollutants.